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Title The 21st century singularity and global futures : a big history perspective / Andrey V. Korotayev, David J. LePoire, editors
Published Cham : Springer, 2020

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Description 1 online resource (619 pages)
Series World-systems evolution and global futures
World-systems evolution and global futures.
Contents PART I: Historical Mega-Trends -- PART II: Models -- PART III: Future Implications -- PART IV: Epistemology and Ontology
Summary This book introduces a 'Big History' perspective to understand the acceleration of social, technological and economic trends towards a near-term singularity, marking a radical turning point in the evolution of our planet. It traces the emergence of accelerating innovation rates through global history and highlights major historical transformations throughout the evolution of life, humans, and civilization. The authors pursue an interdisciplinary approach, also drawing on concepts from physics and evolutionary biology, to offer potential models of the underlying mechanisms driving this acceleration, along with potential clues on how it might progress. The contributions gathered here are divided into five parts, the first of which studies historical mega-trends in relation to a variety of aspects including technology, population, energy, and information. The second part is dedicated to a variety of models that can help understand the potential mechanisms, and support extrapolation. In turn, the third part explores various potential future scenarios, along with the paths and decisions that are required. The fourth part presents philosophical perspectives on the potential deeper meaning and implications of the trend towards singularity, while the fifth and last part discusses the implications of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Given its scope, the book will appeal to scholars from various disciplines interested in historical trends, technological change and evolutionary processes
Notes Print version record
Subject World history.
Human evolution -- History
Human evolution
World history
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
Author Korotaev, A. V.
LePoire, David J
ISBN 9783030337308
3030337308